Brandon Atencio's mother believes he was murdered

Brandon Atencio's mom doesn't believe cops' story of self-defense

One minute was the amount of time that passed between the moment officers located, identified and, ultimately, fatally shot a man.

Brandon Atencio, 28, was shot three times by Cañon City Police Department officers Dec. 11, 2014.

Atencio was a suspect in an armed robbery two days prior and had a box cutter at the time of the incident. He also made multiple suicidal comments and cut his own throat before being shot.

He allegedly charged at Cpl. Charles Stage, who now works with the Florence Police Department.

It's when Atencio charged at Stage that he pulled the trigger in self-defense. Officers said Stage did not have time to pull his taser instead.

This is the narrative given by former CCPD Chief Paul Schultz, Stage and Officer Thomas Gautreaux. The shooting was declared justified by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations and the District Attorney's Office.

However, Cheryl McDowell, Atencio's mother, doesn't think the story they told is true.

"I believe my son was murdered and they covered it up, and I believe I have proof," she said.

McDowell, who attended a rally April 15 to protest the Fremont County Sheriff's Office and to sign a petition to recall Sheriff Jim Beicker, explained she tried coming forward with her suspicions before but was turned away.

However, in light of similar stories like hers, McDowell is coming forward again in hopes people will listen to a different story about her son's death.

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"When the story was printed about Rick and the storage unit, I thought 'now is my time to speak,'" she said. "This has been a nightmare. Not that my kid didn't do something wrong, he sure did, absolutely, but they didn't have to murder him."

"There's so much in here that doesn't match," she said, as she pulled out dozens of documents from a large envelope.

Included in the envelope was her son's autopsy report, medical reports from the ambulance and hospital, an x-ray showing the bullets inside Atencio's organs, a map outlining the crime scene and a dispatch transcript.

She has many more documents that she's obtained either through the DA's office or through CBI.

McDowell questioned why former CCPD Chief Schultz said Atencio was shot twice, but the autopsy shows Atencio was shot three times.

It also states the trajectory of all three bullets is downward, leading McDowell to believe her son was on his knees, crouched over when he was shot.

"They have this story where they tried to talk Brandon down, but they didn't because he was dead in one minute," she said.

McDowell referred to a dispatch transcript from the day, obtained through CBI, where it shows Atencio being located by Stage at 9:12 a.m.

"He's standing with a knife ... he's trying to cut (unintelligible) his throat," Stage said in the transcript.

The transcript reads shots fired at 9:13 a.m., and Atencio was referred to as a fatality at 9:14 a.m.

"Charlie 9 the scene is secure, we have the box cutter he, uh, threatened us with it ... attempted to cut his throat ... what it looks like ... he's gonna be a fatality ... I'm not gonna do CPR until I get another unit," Stage says in the transcript.

McDowell said her son was dead in one minute. She also has medical records, from the fire department, the emergency medical responders and the emergency room.

"Why are they trying to save him, when he's dead?" she said.

The reports show responders attempting to possibly revive Atencio with adrenaline.

A Cañon City Fire District report shows they started CPR compressions and that the "patient's pupils were dilated and not reactive to light."

The emergency room report from St. Thomas More Hospital shows Atencio arrived at the ER at 9:45 a.m.

"It took them like 29 minutes to get him to the hospital. If he was alive and needing help why did they take so long?" she said.

McDowell also pointed out how during CBI's investigation, authorities only collected and bagged evidence but never worked a case.

"They just gave it back to the police," she said, explaining if there was any gunpowder on her son's shirt, CBI never tested for it.

In Atencio's autopsy, it shows no gunpowder was found on his body.

McDowell also questions how Atencio came to have certain bruise marks on his back that appeared to be knee marks, which appear in autopsy photos, as well.

"They're being real careful right here cutting clothes off a dead kid ... yeah, he's dead right here," she said as she continued flipping through crime scene photos taken from that day.

McDowell's suspicions are from the documents she has, and how the timeline presented through the dispatch transcript and medical records doesn't add up, how the autopsy doesn't match the officers' stories and how CBI didn't actually investigate the evidence they collected.

"I just want the truth. I just want to know why they shot my son," she said.

However, former Chief Schultz said he still stands by what he said happened and that his opinion is the same.

"This was something that was investigated by CBI, it was then reviewed by the DA, and both entities believe the shooting was lawful and in self-defense," he said.

When asked whether Stage could have used his taser instead, or fired a warning shot, Schultz explained how neither would have been possible.

He said cops don't actually fire warning shots and that's only something you would see on television.

"Put yourself in the officer's shoes. Someone is running at you with a box cutter ... his vest only covers his chest, but his neck and arms are still exposed," Schultz said.

He said at that moment, the box cutter was a deadly weapon, and if Stage had managed to holster his gun and pull out his taser, Schultz said there was a possibility Stage could have missed.

"While the taser is effective, it isn't always," he said.

He said Stage waited as long as he could before having to fire his gun, which is why he didn't have time to get to his taser.

But if he did use the taser and miss, Schultz said Stage would've been defenseless against the box cutter.

"It all happened so fast, he had no other alternative," he said, adding that Atencio was making suicidal remarks and that attempting suicide by cop is something that does occur often.

"I feel for her, I empathize with her. We all wish this would have happened differently," Schultz said.

McDowell said that she and her family are expecting retaliation for coming forward with their story and calling the police liars.

"I'm not excusing what he did," she said, referring to the armed robbery.

McDowell said she even called the police after she recognized Atencio from surveillance footage of the Western Convenience store that he robbed two days prior.

"I just knew (it was him)," she said, explaining Atencio was upset with himself after the robbery and that's when he began making suicidal threats.

She said she called law enforcement again that day, telling the dispatcher that Atencio was going to kill himself and that he was going to try and get the police to do it.

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